BUYING: TRIED AND TESTED
Porsches I have driven in the past couple of months include a 992 GT3 Touring, 993 Carrera Targa, a genuine 911 S/T, a replica 911 S/T, a 356 Speedster, a 986 Boxster S, a modified 996 Turbo, two 996 GT3s, an ex-works 914/6 GT race car and a 356 Carrera GS four-cam. Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s a tough life. I do have to pinch myself from time to time. Can this really be happening? Moments unlikely to occur again. I mean, a genuine 911 S/T? C’mon!
Bringing myself back into the real world, of all those Porsches, which was I most looking forward to driving? This question would have rather more impact if the photographs you see on these pages didn’t give the game away, but seriously, despite all of the exotica I’ve mentioned, it’s the Boxster. A humble machine in such company, but no less desirable, certainly to me. Seriously? Yes, seriously. No, I’m not just making virtue out of necessity here, or stubbornly trying to big up the Boxster for no other reason than I have column inches to fill. Put simply, the Boxster is arguably the most consequential Porsche of the past thirty years. Additionally, I really want one. Specifically, I want a 986 Boxster.
Consequential? The original Boxster, paired with its 996 Carrera stablemate, was Porsche’s ‘must get it right’ moment. It was time for boardroom squabbles to end and for various factions to stop messing about and come together for the greater good. Messing about? Perhaps that’s a bit strong, but too many opportunities had been squandered and blind alleys pursued as different factory development teams vied to outdo each other, convinced their particular Porsche project was goinglike a stretched four-door 911). Then there’s the barely remembered Type 984, a 924-replacing front-engined (or rearengined, indecision owing to further lack of boardroom consensus) two seater, which made it to prototyping stage and looked a bit like an early Mercedes-Benz SLK. As was the case with the 965 and 989, Porsche just couldn’t send the car to series production at anything like reasonable cost.
